Protector for the shoulder of a hanger-supported garment



M. CZAY March 10', 1959 PROTECTOR FOR THE SHOULDER OF A HANGER-SUPPORTED GARMENT Filed Aug. 26, 1954 F/G. v2

FIG. 3

INVENToR. MARY czAr BY l m M221 ATTORNEYS United States Parchi PROTECTOR FOR THE SHOULDER OF A HANGER-SUPPORTED GARMENT .n t 1 .4 f Mary C'zay, National City, Calif.

Application August 26, 1954, Serial No. 452,405

' 7 Claims. (Cl. 223-98) j The present invention relates to a. protector for the shoulder of a hanger-supported garment;

Garments, particularly girls and womens dresses are supported, for display purposes in stores, on hangers, and these hangers, in turn, are supported in parallel relationship on rods of racks in such manner whereby the front of one dress confronts the rear of the next adjacent dress. Twenty or more dresses are thus supported in one row. Usually each rack includes two parallelly-arranged rods whereby each rack supports two rows of dresses, the shoulders on one side of the dresses in one row confronting the shoulders on one side of the dresses in the other row.

One of the objects of the present invention is to cover at least the exposed shoulder of each dress. In carrying out the aforementioned object, I provide protectors, one for each dress. This protector includes a protecting sheet having front and rear sections which are bridged, at the upper portions thereof, by a resilient yoke section. This yoke section normally yieldingly urges the front and rear sections toward one another to thereby clasp the dress therebetween so as to prevent accidental dislodgement of the dress. This protector is disposed to cover at least the outer, upper part of the shoulder and the upper part of the adjacent arm of a dress.

Further objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.

ln the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view of a clothes rack of the type used by stores in displaying garments such as coats, gowns, and dresses, said view also showing the improved protectors applied to the garments;

Fig. 2 is a front or rear View of the improved protector;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the protector; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, a garment or dress is shown at 20. This dress is supported by a hanger having a hook 21 and two outwardly extending shoulder supports 22 for supporting the shoulders 23 of the dress. The improved protector 25 covers the top and the front and rear part of the upper end of the arm 26 of the dress and at least the outer part of the shoulder adjacent said arm and the adjacent part of the front and rear of the dress, all as is clearly shown in Fig. l.

The protector 25 includes a sheet 28 having a front section 29 and a rear section 30. These sections may be formed of plastic, preferably transparent, and formed integrally with a yoke section bridging the upper portions of said sections; said yoke section should be resilient and normally yieldingly urge the front and rear section toward one another and thereby clasp the dress therebetween, such resiliency also being utilized to force the material of the dress against the shoulder supports 22 of the hanger, and thereby preventing accidental re- 2,876,941 Patented Mar. l0, 1959 moval of the protector from its position on the dress and hanger therefor. Of course, it will be understood that the protector is of suicient resiliency so as to permit suicient spreading, of the front and rear sections, so that, at will, the protector can be applied to and removed from the dress and hanger.y Or, the sections 29 and 30 can be formed, as herein shown, from double layers of plasticrayon, linen, muslin, or any desirable material having suicient body to be stable when doubled. The stitching is shown at 33. If the material selection of itself does not provide suflcient resiliency to clasp the dress lfirmly therebetween, then in that event an auxiliary spring should be employed. Such spring is shown at 35; it comprises a strip of resilient material having front 36 and rear 37 legs, the upper ends of which are bridged by a yoke section 38. This spring may be formed of plastic, spring steel, or any other type of resilient metal. This spring is covered by the sheet material of the protector, it being interposed between the layers of the double thickness material. To insure against displacement of the spring, it may be held in position by stitching passing lthrough the layers of the protector, or sockets 39 can be formed for the lower ends of the legs. These sockets may be formed by stitching 40, and preferably such sockets are formed by stitching of U-shaped configurations.

Usually the dresses are arranged in two rows 41 and 42; the shoulders, on one side of the dresses in one row, confront the shoulders on one side of the dresses in the other row. The hangers are supported by parallellyarranged rods 43, which in turn are supported by arms 44 of the rack 45. When the dresses are so arranged, that is only one shoulder and arm confronts the prospective customer, only one protector is necessary and this is applied to that portion of the dress which is usually grasped by the viewer when she is inspecting the dress.

From the foregoing, it is readily apparent that I have provided protection of the garment in a simple, effective yet inexpensive and inherently self-sustaining protector.

While the form of embodiment herein shown and described constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms may be adopted falling Within the scope of the claims that follow.

I claim:

l. An inherently self-sustaining protector for the shoulder of a hanger-supported garment, comprising a protecting sheet having front and rear sections and an upper yoke section bridging the upper portions of the front and rear sections, each of said front and rear sections being of such size so as to be adapted to cover the front and rear shoulder portions of the garment, and in the unstretched condition, said front and rear sections normally converge toward engagement with one another at the lower ends thereof, said yoke being formed of resilient material normally yieldingly urging the lower edges of the front and rear sections into substantial engagement with one another.

2. An inherently self-sustaining protector for the shoulder of a hanger-supported garment, comprising a protecting sheet having front and rear sections and an upper yoke section bridging the upper portions of the front and rear sections, said front and rear sections each having a socket, each of said front and rear sections be* ing of such size so as to be adapted to cover the front and rear shoulder portions of the garment, and in the unstretched condition, said front and rear sections normally converge toward engagement with one another at the lower ends thereof; and a hairpin shaped strip of resilient material including front and rear legs and an upper yoke bridging the upper portions of said legs,

nds' of said legs being disposed in and terminating in said sockets and being biased for normally urging thev lower edges of the front and rear sections of the sheet into substantial engagement with one another.

3. An inherently selfs'staining protector as defined in claim 2, characterized inV that thesheet isV formed in two layers and the hairpin-shaped strip is disposed be'- tween the'layers.

Y 4; An inherently self-sustaining protector as defined in claim 2, characterized `in that the sheet is formedy in two layers and the hairpin=shaped strip is disposed between the layers, and further characterized invthat the sockets' areV formed by connections between the layers.

5. An' inherently selfsustaining protector 'as' derid in claim 2,. characterized in that the shet is formed iii two layersY and the'hairpin-shaped strip isvdisp'osed"v be tween the layers, and further chr terized in that the sockets are formed by U-sliape'd connections 'beltiiveeri the layers7 6. An inherently self-sustainingprotector -s-'defin'd in claim 2, characterized in that the sheet is formed in two layers and the hairpin-shaped strip' is disposed between the layers, and further characterized in that the sockets are formed by stitching connecting the layers.

7. An inherently self-sustaining protector as dened in claim 2, characterized in that the sheet is formed in two layers and the hairpin-shaped strip is disposed between the layers, and further characterized in that the sockets are formed by U-shaped stitching connecting the layers,

Referencesl Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS'y Reiner Dec. 18,v 1951 

